The present invention relates to an angular velocity sensor which can be employed in various control systems, such as a vehicle motion/behavior control system as well as a navigation system, or in a video camera for compensating the operator's hand movement, and more particularly to an angular velocity sensor which detects an angular velocity using a piezoelectric vibrator.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 8-210860, published in 1996, discloses a conventional angular velocity sensor which comprises a piezoelectric vibrator configured into a tuning fork with a pair of arm bars and a connecting bar. According to this angular velocity sensor, the vibrator causes a predetermined vibration in a driving direction along which the arm bars are arrayed. When the sensor is subjected to an angular velocity, a Coriolis force derived from the angular velocity is detected as a vibration change of the vibrator caused in a sensing direction normal to the driving direction.
Japanese Unexamined Utility Application No. 5-71715, published in 1993, discloses another angular velocity sensor employing a lead wire arrangement according to which terminals of lead wires are located adjacent to a vibrator to shorten the length of each lead wire in the air.